Lexington, KY - Located on South Limestone, in the same building that houses Sqecial Media, ReBelle and The Album, it's relatively easy to overlook Han Woo Ri, especially if you don't frequent the UK campus area.
One of Lexington's few options for Korean dining, the restaurant has a simple, unassuming storefront and dining room, which say nothing of the full flavor and scrumptious ingredients that go into the just over a dozen items on the menu.
The restaurant is set up to cater to its brisk lunch crowd: order and pay at the counter, then find a seat and wait for your food to be brought out. The menu, which is posted on the wall behind the counter (or in a few binders in case you want to sit down to make your mind up), features a variety of rice, vegetable, soup and noodle-based dishes, as well as authentic Korean staples such as pajun, a Korean-style pancake with seafood, onion and garlic, and mandoo, steamed dumplings filled with vegetables, tofu and pork.
Most items come with either beef, chicken, seafood or pork, as well as a vegetarian option, and plenty of colorful vegetables - carrots, seaweed, peppers, broccoli - garnish many of the dishes as well.
On a recent visit, my guest ordered a noodle-based soup called hae mool udong ($7.99) and I chose the dol sot bi bim bab ($7.99), a signature item and one of the restaurant's most popular dishes. Served in a hot stone bowl, the bi bam bap consists of rice, cucumbers, sesame oil, mushrooms, beef, seaweed, onions and a fried egg; it arrives at the table, still audibly sizzling, with sides of hot sauce, sesame oil and kimchi (a spicy Asian cabbage side dish) - the items finish cooking as you stir them together before digging in. The bi bam bap is a knockout dish, with a bevy of warm flavors and textures melding together to create an essence that I couldn't seem to devour fast enough, despite the hot temperature of the dish.
The hae mool udong, which includes seafood, thick noodles, vegetables and a spicy red broth, has a delicious, savory aroma and flavor. While there weren't many large pieces of seafood to be found in his bowl, the soup was still very filling and flavorful - a little on the spicy side, as our server warned us in advance, but a manageable heat if you enjoy spicy foods. We were both served a small bowl of miso soup while we waited for our meals, and were offered more after we finished it.
The service and ambience of Han Woo Ri, while perfectly ample for the casual restaurant that it is, are nothing to write home about - but if you are in the market for an authentic, highly flavorful and somewhat adventurous Asian meal, Han Woo Ri is definitely among your best bets in town, with a selection of items you would be hard pressed to find anywhere else. While the restaurant doesn't serve alcohol, it features a selection of canned and bottled sodas (including IBC root beer), as well as hot Korean tea.
Lunch for two, including two soft drinks, came to $21.18. Most items fall in the $6 - 10 price range, and the lunch and dinner menus are the identical.